Panthers HC Dave Canales 'excited' to get to final roster cuts

There will obviously be a lot of firsts in 2024 for first-year head coach Dave Canales. And among those new experiences will be the process of getting to his first initial 53-man roster.

In less than a week’s time, the Carolina Panthers must be down from 90 players to 53—leaving 37 difficult decisions to make. Nonetheless, Canales is looking forward to the challenge.

“Yeah, it’s hard. And I’m excited for it,” he told reporters following Wednesday’s practice. “When you respect and regard the whole unit and you’re kinda bringing everybody up at the same time—with the teaching, with the practices, the drill work and all those things as we improve everyone—it makes the decisions harder and harder.

“So I’m really excited about doing this with Dan [Morgan], with Brandt [Tilis], with the coaching staff. We’ve kinda had our touch-points throughout camp to evaluate where we’re at right now, and then we’ll have that culmination after we get through this last game.”

That last game takes place on Saturday at 1 p.m. ET against the Buffalo Bills. Canales has yet to decide if his starters will take up some of that outing, perhaps leaving fewer opportunities for the players who are still trying to claim a roster spot.

Teams will have until 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday to get down to 53 players.